WiFi’s on a Plane

What’s up Networking Crew?

I hope this is an ok place to post this.

Also Hope all is well for everyone on this fine Hump-Day!

I was just on a United Airlines flight which had WiFi available. You connect to their WiFi network and purchase a plan if you want.

I did not purchase a plan, however I was able to receive email notifications and messages from others on Facebook.

When I tried to open the emails I couldn’t though, and they didn’t show up in my inbox, but I could read snippets from the notification.

Also could not connect to my home OpenVPN, but the logs listed my domain as “resolved”. So it seems I partially made it out but not all the way. It seems like I was also able to receive and deliver iMessages.

Any idea why this is? Obviously it’s in the config of their equipment but I’m curious how anything could make it in to my device. Is this a tactic to encourage the purchase of a plan?

Also is signal to the plane provided via satellite?